A Southern rifle by 'Ol Vern

[Brasilikilt]

The other day, I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with 'Ol Vern talking shop and checking out some of the pieces he has made.

Over a year ago Vern spent a lot of time putting together a Brown Bess for me.
As a gesture of gratitude I brought over a rough, ugly chunk of 12/4 ash that looked better suited for a railroad tie, or bridge timber.

Here he is showing me what happened to that ugly chunk of timber

Many of you will recognize it as an iron mounted Southern Poor Boy.
Vern seems to build these rifles much the same way they did 200 yrs ago.

He cuts out his stock blanks using a handsaw, bends,welds and hammers all of his hardware from scratch and also rakes the barrel channel out with a metal file with the end ground down to the profile of an octagonal barrel.

I have handled this rifle and can say that it aims beautifully and feels like one of those rifles that actually wants to be held and shot.

There are a few more pictures to post, but I will have to do that later as I am out of time for now.

Hopefully Vern will chime in with more details.

Iain out!

 

[RickD]

Nice

 

[rmcmaster]

Nice looking rifle, but this time I get to tell you that Vern put the lock on the wrong side. Doesn't matter though, it's still a good looking rifle.

 

[rabjr]

Nice. :thumbsup:

 

[Allan Gray]

Very Nice.
Looks like a very stout weapon...up to any task and will come out better looking with age every time.

I also like the way the ring pattern of the grain compliments the form at the wrist.

Ash is too often over-looked. A wood carver I apprenticed under once said..."Nothing beats a nice piece of Ash!"

 

[Mulebrain]

When I first looked at the pics, I swore that stock was oak! Ash huh??

Looks great, really nice!

I saw your pic, and immediately new it was Oregon :thumbsup:

 

[Parzifal]

Great pictures, If I stood out in the front of my place with one of my flinters the swat team would be called so fast, when I go shooting I have to ninja out of my place with em...Its nice to see some good communities out there!

And ash..Wow..
I love ash, the whole idea of it!, Theres many old Norse poems about this tree.

Very beautiful too bad its a lefty or I would be trying to work up a trade of some sort!

Cheers!

Rob

 

[shmrck1]

Simple and yet beautiful!Great craftsmanship.
snake-eyes :applause::bow:

 

[Brasilikilt]

Here are the rest of the photos I took.

Vern and I are both Southpaws, so the lock is exactly where it needs to be :blah:

I would like all of you right handers to shoot left-handed flinters whenever you have the opportunity. It's a fun kinda scary feeling when that flash pan goes off on the same side as your face!

Let's hope for my sake Vern will build another rifle, get tired of this one and then sell it off to me :grin:

Attitudes in the Northwest seem to be more relaxed than they are in other parts of the U.S.
People tend to be more curious and interested than scared when they see a couple guys taking pictures of an archaic rifle in the front yard.

Sorry about your neighbors BessBattleSystem :shake:

Ash seems to be an often overlooked wood when it comes to gun building.
At the time I was working at a lumber store where I had asked some knowledgeable people in the company as well as a lot of our regular woodworker customers about ash....

Everybody basically said the same thing: Ash is great for most anything if you don't mind how hard it is.

Vern mentioned that it's very good for a Southern Poor boy which has no butt plate. I think it is very much in tune with the plain,utilitarian feel of the rifle.

I really hope we can go blast this thing off sometime soon.

Thanks for your comments everyone, hopefully Vern will see this and add more details about his creation.

Iain out!

 

[rudy parnell]

:wink: You fellars are living the good life.

Thanks for letting us in on it. Can you tell more about the Lock and the Barrel?

Thanks.

 

[ol vern]

:wink: You fellars are living the good life.

Thanks for letting us in on it. Can you tell more about the Lock and the Barrel?

Thanks.

Thanks for all the nice feed back.
I can't carve or engrave worth a damn so I stick to the plain iorn mounted guns. The barrel is a GM 7/8 by 42 in. 40 cal. I made the lock frome one of Chambers outstanding Builders lock kits.

 

[shootemup]

Very nice, Ol Vern.
:thumbsup:

 

[David G]

There is just something about a scratched built southern especially in ash. It don't get much better than that. Hat's off Ol Vern. :thumbsup:

 

[Brasilikilt]

There is just something about a scratched built southern especially in ash. It don't get much better than that. Hat's off Ol Vern. :thumbsup:

Thankfully I knew barely enough about Southern rifles to know that ash is an especially appropriate wood for this style of rifle.

This rifle shows clearly that Ash and iron furniture go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I think that I should have taken better pictures because my photos do not do the rifle justice. :redface:

 

Vern and I are both Southpaws, so the lock is exactly where it needs to be :blah:

My boy shoots southpaw and said the same thing when he was lookin' at it!